A Conversation Between Best Friends
by ashleyt
Summary: A conversation between Maria and Liz.


Title: A Conversation Between Best Friends

Author: Ashleyt

Summary: Exactly what the title suggests. A conversation between Maria and Liz.

Rating: PG

"Liz" Maria Deluca, whispered softly as she gently shook her friend.

Unsure of the time but sure of the fact that she was very happy in bed, Liz furrowed into her pillow, hoping that whatever Maria wanted could wait until the sun was out, tomorrow morning preferably.

"Liz" Maria whispered again, this time with a note of urgency lacing her voice that caused Liz to still.

"Maria?" Liz mumbled, rolling over to glance at the reason why she'd been pulled from yet another Max-centred dream. Not that it been a pleasant one, filled with heartfelt declarations of love and kisses, no this was one that reflected the current situation in her life. One that always ended the same: Max coming through her window and finding her with Kyle Valenti. The pain and disbelief so real everytime that she had yet to wake without tears staining her pillow.

Maria quickly said "Lizzie, we gotta talk" and left the room the way she'd entered, through the window and down the fire escape. Yawning, Liz fought the sleep that wanted her to place her head on her pillow and forget about this late night visit. But there was something about the tone in Maria's voice, screamed this was more than a normal "Michael is an asshole" conversation. Sighing, she dragged herself out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweat pants and a sweater before going outside.

Climbing down the fire escape, Liz inhaled the scent of fresh rain and upon her landing at ground level she raised the collar of her sweater for protection against the chill of the night. How the weather could change from a heat wave to...this always puzzled her. That was Roswell for you, forever a mystery. Aliens, the weather...she turned around to catch Maria's blank stare in her car.

_Best Friends_.

Sensing the sevarity of the situation, Liz hurried to the car. "Maria-", she began before being cut off by the sound of the engine as Maria drove away from her home.

_What is up with her?_

Maria was not silent. Yes, she had her moments between her normal level of babble or daily rant but not like this. Not this long. At least not with Liz. She spent the rest of the ride, pondering what had gone wrong to cause Maria to behave this way.

And watching the scenery. She watched Alex's house come into view, normal and almost identical to the houses on either side of it. Liz knew that it was anything but normal and identical. She knew that there was a huge coat stand inside the foyer. Mrs. Whitman had a love for nostalgia and used the stand instead of the usual closet. Liz recalled the pictures along the wall dipicting Alex from age one to his recent "I'm six-teen and a mucisian" picture. The love and warmth inside of that house made it memorable and unique. Liz smiled as she thought about it.

As Alex's house disappeared from view, Liz's eyes unconsciously slid to the Evan's house on the opposite side. Turning away quickly, Liz fought the memories of that night. She had done the right thing. Period. Their future was not lost because of her love for Max. The world wouldn't end due to a love that went against destiny itself. She closed her eyes and repeated this mantra, her belief in her decision strengthing her resolve.

"We're here" Maria's clipped voice interrupted

Opening her eyes, Liz realized that they were back at their spot. Maria and hers. It was where they spoke about boys and hybrids. Recently it was where she'd revealed about her visit from Future Max.

Maria exited the car and sat down on the bench, wanting to get started. Liz followed quickly, wanting to help her friend with whatever was causing her UnMaria-like behaviour.

Sitting cross-legged on the bench, she looked into the major constant and confident in her life. Her sister. Her Best Friend. Her _Maria_.

Those green-eyes were also focused on her as Maria said, "Liz Parker, I'm mad at you"

"Wh-what?" Liz stammered, unsure of what she was hearing.

"I know, I said that I understood why you kept the whole Max-blasted-from-the-future-to-make-me-fall-out-of-love-with-him", she paused to take a breath, "But I'm your best friend so you should be able to come to me with everything. I've been tossing and turning all night wondering if I ever gave you a reason to feel like you couldn't turn to me in what has been the hardest thing for you to do. And you kept this inside for weeks until I came to you about it. Than I thought about it, it must have been me."

_What?_

"And it made me mad at myself too. You went away all heart broken and I was there for you but I also became close friends with Max. And when you came back I had loyalty issues because I wanted you both to be happy and I applied a _little_ pressure. Than of course this Max from the future tells you to push Present Max away. You probably thought I would have told Present Max about Future Max" Maria looked away but Liz caught the anguish in her eyes. It made Liz feel lower than pond scum. "I'm sorry for giving you any doubt".

"Maria Alejandra Deluca, you are the world's most amazing best friend" Liz stated wanting to erase any doubt. "You are the best person in my life and I love you so much"

Sniffing Maria pulled Liz into a hug and Liz burst into tears.

Pulling back alarmed Maria asked, "Oh my God. What is it?"

Wiping at her tears Liz said, "You have nothing to apologize for. I am the one who should be apologizing. I kept this from you when we share everything. And I left you all alone this summer knowing that you were feeling as much heartbreak as I was. No wonder you became friends with Max. He understood what it was like to be left behind, I did the same exact thing to Max that Michael did to you. Than I was so harsh to you when all you wanted was for me to be happy. I am such a horrible friend"

Maria wiped away Liz's tears, "Honey, I think we both know that you left because it was the only way for you to survive the Summer of the Deathly D-word. I didn't blame or judge you for walking away because I know how much it killed you"

Maria leaned back on her hands and looked up towards the night sky as Liz wiped at her face with the sleeve of her sweater. She watched Maria, noticing the beauty that was such an opposite to her own. Where Liz felt pride in her shiny, straight brunette hair, Maria's blonde locks were now full of curls pulled back with a hair clip that had an alien head for a top. Maria's features were exotic while hers were more girl-next door. Liz was orderly and quiet while Maria was all over the place and loud. And look at the boys they'd fallen in love with... Opposites in all corners of their lives except for their kindred souls and Liz thanked her lucky stars that they'd found each other so long ago.

"Do you ever wonder if the alien abyss causes more than heartbreak?" Maria asked still staring at the sky.

Surprised by the change in topics, Liz answered honestly, "I don't know. I do believe that it takes the normalcy out of everything we do, including our friendships", she laughed, "I would never have to keep something like the end of the world from you, if we'd never known about the aliens"

"That's what I mean. Before all of this we could share everything and it was all simple. Now" Maria glanced at her, "there are things that happen between Michael and me that I want to share but can't. Or I'll think 'Wait until Liz hears about this' but it's quickly followed by 'Would Michael care if I shared this?'. It's not the way I want to be, but it is our...reality ya know".

Understanding, Liz nodded her head, "It just is"

"And I wonder, why do we keep these things from each other? I know why but it's still hard because I want to share everything with you and at the same time I know I can't. That you can't either"

Speaking softly Liz said, "Maybe it's more about our friendship's evolution? Like a step away-"

Maria shook her head savagely, causing her curls to bounce around, "Don't even, Elizabeth Parker"

"I meant that it's more of a step away from each other, to bring us closer. The added addition of these aliens and boyfriend-girlfriend drama that runs like a teen angst television show on the WB causes these situations. We react and we learn. Which takes us to another level in our evolution of self. Therefore we had to go through these situations, to realize that we needed to re-evaluate our friendship. "

Realization dawned on Maria as her eyes widened, "Ohhhh I get it. Kinda like the means to our end. Here"

"Yeah," Liz started, "so we'd talk about it, discuss our feelings..."

"...and fix our problem, strengthening our friendship in the process" Maria finished.

"Wow" they both said in unison.

"I'm sorry"

"I'm sorry"

Maria grinned at Liz and Liz grinned back. "So now that we know what the problem is and weve discussed it, do we like shake on it?"

Feeling lighter than she'd had in weeks, Liz nodded. She held out her hand "Best friends who share everything regardless of who it involves"

Maria took it "Best friends who share everything, period" and they shook on it.

"So..."

"Well honey, since we're both out and in our spot let me tell you about what Space Boy said yesterday. He had the nerve to tell me I wore really short skirts. Me? Innocent Maria. So I said...

Knowing where this was heading, Liz smiled their friendship had been tested by everything from coming back from the dead to boyfriends and yet they'd remained strong and grew stronger everyday. She leaned back, resting on her hands, glad to be out having meaningful and sometimes not so meaningful conversations with her best friend.


End file.
